Video of rare ‘Cosmic Marvel’ pilot during night flight astounds the internet

A video of the “very unusual” sight of a giant jet plane flying across the night sky has gone viral on Instagram.

The spectacular sight was captured from the cockpit by pilot Alexander Torres, who shared a video of the rare sight on his Instagram account (@airbus.fr). The clip has been viewed 10 million times since it was posted on February 22nd.

The caption shared on the post read: “Encountered a cosmic wonder! Captured the surreal beauty of a giant jet phenomenon during a night flight. It’s like something out of a science fiction movie! Do you know about this fascinating “nature”? phenomenon? “

The footage shows the view from the flight deck and shows lightning flashing across the dark night sky. In the distance, you can see striking pink and purplish-blue rays of light extending upward from the clouds.

What is a giant jet?

According to NASA, giant jets are a “very rare but extremely powerful” type of lightning discharge that occurs in some thunderstorms and in and above Earth’s ionosphere (where Earth’s atmosphere meets space).

These are very different from regular cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning. The bottom of the giant jet resembles another type of lightning known as a blue jet. Blue jets are blue flashes of light that shoot upward from the tops of thunderstorms toward the edge of space. According to NASA, a jet plane can reach a stratified interface 50 kilometers above the Earth’s surface in less than a second.

The top of the giant jet appears to resemble an upper-atmospheric red sprite, “one of the least understood electrical phenomena in Earth’s upper atmosphere.”

Sprites, which occur above thunderstorms at an altitude of about 80 kilometers, appear immediately after a lightning strike in the form of “sudden reddish flashes that take a variety of shapes,” often combining diffuse plumes with bright, spiny tendrils. Become something.

NASA says, “While the mechanisms and triggers that cause giant jets are the subject of research, it is clear that jets reduce the charge imbalance between different parts of Earth’s atmosphere. A good way to look for giant jets is to “But look at the jets in the distance.” Thunderstorm from a sunny place. ”

“The most extraordinary thing”

Instagram users were shocked by an unusual sight in the latest viral clip. One of them, Rolander Homme, said: “This is one of the most extraordinary photos I’ve ever seen. Bravo!”

User ny_uap_Discussion agreed, saying, “Wow, this has got to be one of the most beautiful captures ever.”

“Unbelievable!” nisheink wrote, while misiu_universe wrote: “Wow! That’s amazing. I knew lightning could strike straight from the clouds, but this video shows it best.” I commented.

“It happened so fast that people don’t realize it, but if you could shoot this footage in slow motion, you’d see the sprites and blue jets actually reflecting off the atmosphere,” Topp said. Stated.

User paulmsmithphotography said, “…Wild! Really interesting White Channel activity above the clouds.”

newsweek reached out to the original poster for comment via Instagram. This video has not been independently verified.